Salvia (Annual)

The heat- and drought-tough bedding flowers that spike with color all summer and pull in hummingbirds and bees - the ornamental salvias, not the kitchen herb.

Start the slow seed early and warm (or buy plants), set out after frost into full sun and well-drained soil, and pinch for fullness.

Bedding salvias are slow from seed and are most often grown from transplants. If you start your own, sow 6-8 weeks before the last frost, pressing the light-dependent seed onto the surface and keeping it warm (about 75°F) and moist. Named vegetative selections of S. farinacea and S. microphylla are sold only as plants. Either way, set salvias out only after all frost has passed and the soil has warmed — they're frost-tender and heat-loving.

Give them full sun and well-drained soil; the one thing they won't tolerate is soggy ground. They're famously drought- and heat-tolerant once established, so water to get them rooted and then let them dry between waterings, and skip heavy feeding (rich, wet soil grows floppy foliage over flowers). Pinch young plants once or twice to build a full, bushy habit with more flower spikes. Space 8-18 inches by type. Give them sun, warmth, and sharp drainage and they largely thrive on neglect.

Water sparingly once established, deadhead spent spikes for more bloom, shear leggy plants, and let the hummingbirds and bees work.

Salvia care is close to effortless in a sunny, well-drained spot. Water sparingly once the plants are established — they're built for heat and drought — and don't overfeed. The main habit is deadheading: cut or pinch off faded flower spikes and the plant pushes up fresh ones, blooming right through the summer to frost. When a plant gets leggy and tired at midseason, shear it back by a third and it rebounds fuller.

Beyond that, mostly enjoy the wildlife. Salvia spikes are among the best hummingbird and pollinator plants you can grow, humming with bees and butterflies all summer, so avoid spraying and let them do their thing. Watch tender new growth for aphids and whiteflies, leaf undersides for spider mites in hot dry spells, and crowded plants for powdery mildew — all minor and manageable with airflow, base watering, and a hose blast. Tender-perennial types (S. coccinea, S. microphylla) can be cut back and overwintered in mild zones or as cuttings.

Blue mealycup spikes cut and dry well; other types are enjoyed on the plant; seed keeps for years for the open-pollinated species.

Most ornamental salvias are enjoyed growing rather than stored, but the spike types — especially blue mealycup sage (S. farinacea, 'Victoria Blue') — are genuinely good cut flowers: cut when about half the spike is open, and they last a week or more in water. Better still, blue salvia dries well for everlasting arrangements — hang bunches upside down in a dry, airy spot and the blue holds its color.

For keeping the plants going, save seed from the open-pollinated species. S. coccinea and species S. farinacea set viable seed in the spent spikes; collect and store it cool, dark, and dry (it keeps a couple of years), or let it self-sow. Named F1 hybrids and vegetative selections won't come true from seed — overwinter those as cuttings or as whole plants (the tender perennials) in mild climates instead.

Save seed from the open-pollinated species (and let S. coccinea self-sow); take cuttings of the named perennial types.

Propagation depends on which salvia you have. The open-pollinated species — tropical sage (S. coccinea) especially, and species mealycup sage — set abundant seed in the spent spikes; let some ripen and drop and they self-sow readily, returning as volunteers year after year in warm climates, or collect the seed to sow (surface-sow it, as most salvia seed needs light). These come reasonably true.

The named hybrids and vegetative selections — many S. farinacea cultivars, and the tender-perennial S. microphylla types like 'Hot Lips' — won't grow true from seed (or set little), so propagate them from softwood cuttings taken in summer, which root easily. In frost-free or mild zones the tender perennials also simply persist and can be divided, giving you the same plant back without any propagation at all.

Trouble usually means wet feet or too much shade; the rest is legginess (shear), plus mites, whiteflies, and mildew.

Plants floppy, rotting, or dying: almost always soggy soil — salvias demand sharp drainage and hate wet feet; improve drainage and water less. Few flowers, leggy leafy growth: too much shade, too much water/nitrogen, or no deadheading — give full sun, grow them lean and dry, deadhead spent spikes, and pinch young plants. Leggy, tired, bloomed-out midseason: shear back by a third and it renews. Fine webbing and stippled pale leaves (spider mites): hot, dry conditions — hose off undersides. Clouds of tiny white insects (whiteflies) or clusters on new growth (aphids): hose off or use insecticidal soap, sparingly, to protect the pollinators. White powdery leaves (powdery mildew): crowding and humidity — space wider and improve airflow. Not the herb I wanted: ornamental salvias aren't culinary — for cooking, grow garden sage (Salvia officinalis), listed separately.

A huge, mostly New World genus of over 900 species - the ornamental bedding types bred from Brazilian scarlet sage, Texan mealycup sage, and tropical sage.

Salvia is one of the largest genera of flowering plants, with over 900 species spread across the Americas, the Mediterranean, and Asia — a group that includes the culinary herb (S. officinalis), the medicinal Chinese danshen, and hundreds of ornamentals. The name comes from the Latin salvere, 'to heal', reflecting the herbal reputation of the Old World species. But the showy bedding salvias of the flower garden are mostly New World plants.

Scarlet sage (S. splendens) hails from Brazil and was bred into the fiery, compact bedding staple of parks and borders worldwide. Mealycup sage (S. farinacea), the source of blue 'Victoria', is native to Texas and the south-central US. Tropical sage (S. coccinea) ranges through the warm Americas. Prized by breeders and gardeners for their intense color, heat tolerance, and, above all, their pull on hummingbirds and pollinators, these American salvias became — along with a growing wave of newer species and hybrids — some of the most valued warm-season flowers in cultivation.

Heat-loving warm-season flowers everywhere: summer annuals in the north, and often-persisting tender perennials in warm zones.

Ornamental salvias are built for heat, which makes them adaptable but frost-limited. Zones 3-6: warm-season annuals — set out transplants after frost for bloom from early summer to the first freeze, which ends them; they revel in summer heat that stalls other flowers. Zones 7-8: long, hot seasons suit them perfectly, with heavy bloom and good drought tolerance; some tender-perennial types (S. coccinea, S. microphylla 'Hot Lips') may overwinter in a sheltered spot and return. Zones 9-10: excellent — plant in late winter or fall and grow through the heat, and many salvias behave as evergreen or root-hardy tender perennials, blooming much of the year; a fall planting gives cool-season color where summer is extreme. Zone 11: plant year-round; many ornamental salvias are perennial and near-continuously in bloom. Everywhere the recipe is the same — full sun, sharp drainage, and warmth — and everywhere the reward is a tough, colorful, hummingbird-magnet flower for the hottest part of the year.